The present invention relates to a semiconductor laser element.
Semiconductor laser elements have been used in a variety of applications in recent years. For instance, they have been used as a projector light source by connecting a plurality of them together in series.
In such applications of semiconductor laser elements, in the case where a single element becomes discontinuous, then even though the other semiconductor laser elements still allow electrical conduction, the electrical conduction of all of the serially connected semiconductor laser elements comes to a halt, so they no longer function as a light source. Therefore, to ensure long-term reliability of a light source in which semiconductor laser elements are used, it is necessary to avoid situations in which individual semiconductor laser elements become discontinuous.
Meanwhile, ways to maintain or improve the characteristics of individual semiconductor laser elements have been investigated in order to obtain a unimodal FFP in the horizontal direction for a semiconductor laser element, to suppress the concentration of current in a particular region and make the NFP more uniform, and/or to suppress the generation of leak current, etc. (JP2000-196181A, JP2004-273955A and JP2011-258883A, for example).